The Conference Board: Robin Wiebe

Chinese Economy Dept: Robin Wiebe, a senior economist with the Centre for Municipal Studies in Ottawa, offers the assessment in a column published by the Conference Board, warning that expectations of a slowing Chinese economy "could be considered as big a drag on the Vancouver housing market going for-ward as anything else, including the city's notoriously poor affordability.", according to Vancouver Sun. "There is a clear correlation between Chinese immigration and real estate activity in Vancouver," Wiebe said in his column. "In fact, the Chinese immigration peak of 2005 was matched by a peak in existing home sales in that same year. The 42,000 resale transactions that year were nearly 50 per cent above the previous decade's average and remain a record high for this market." A new commentary by the Conference Board of Canada is reigniting a debate over just how much influence China's economy has over Metro Vancouver's housing market. Wiebe's view is that Vancouver's housing market has historically followed Chinese growth, with the accelerating Chinese economy over the past decade accompanied by surging Vancouver price increases. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.